Land Park and Visalia Crits

A bit late on getting the reports out. Better late than never though. James describes the good teamwork and racing from Visalia and Land Park crits. Things are really coming together for the team in '08!

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Race: Land Park Criterium

Location: Land Park in Sacramento

Teamates: Rand Miller, Aroussen Laflamme, Jono

Placing: 2nd of ~55

The 4 of us piled into my Honda Element for the weekend bound for Land Park and the Visalia criterium. The course at Land Park is a road though the park that winds around the park and some chicanes leading into the finish line. This was my first time doing this race and I told historically this race had a lot of crashes. Our team plan was to be active as a team, sharing the load of attacking and covering breaks. Rand, Jono, and Aroussen were all very aggressive during the race. At one point Aroussen and I were in a breakaway with just the two of us, the pack not wanting that to happen brought us back pretty quickly. Rand had the largest gap of any breakaway all day and he did it solo, eventually his attempt was pulled back as well. Coming into the finish I was feeling good, the pace stayed pretty high until the last lap when there was some surging. Aroussen and Rand both got primes during the race. Just after the last left hand turn leading into the finishing chicanes I had a little bit of deja vu from the Merco races, the pack sat up a little and I attacked from pretty far out. I held a good gap for a while, but was forced to take a longer line around the last bend to get around a rider who had been off the front. I went around him on the outside adding a few feet to my line to the finish, just at the line Randy from BPG came around me. I was happy to have another podium finish but missed the win by inches. The team rode very well together and we had lots of compliments from other riders in the race on how well we rode. It was a great race for the 4 of us who haven't raced together much this year.

Land Park full results here

We all got into the Honda to head to Visalia and it wouldn't start, thanks to the guys and Ryan from Metromint for the push we push started it with ease. (Better get the battery checked).

We arrived in Visalia about 10:45pm, some of us went for a dip in the hot tub then went to sleep. Our race in Visalia was at 11:30am. We showed up 2 hours before and were impressed with the setup at the visalia crit. We got a good warmup just outside of the downtown area showed up to the startline early for a good position. Many of the big teams and names were there including BMC, Colavita, Successful Living, Bissel, and many others. With the 4 of us not having the firepower that the bigger teams had we decided to take a little more of a defensive approach than the day before. Rand did a good job staying near the front and trying to get into attacks as they formed. Aroussen did a great job maintaining position near the front of the race. As for me my legs felt good throughout the entire race, except for a slight cramping feeling about 3/4 of the way through the race. It wasn't bad enough to take me out of the race. Going into the finish inside about 3 laps to go the race started getting really fast and the big teams started forming the trains up near the front. I positioned myself at the back of all of this mayhem and stayed there until the sprint started where I passed a few people for 21st place. This was my first Pro/1 race and it was a good learning experience for me. I definitely feel I had the legs and the fitness for a top 5 finish in this race, I didn't have the eye of the tiger on this day. Rand, rode a very active race and was at the front getting into small breakaways. I like the way Rand races and expect a win from him soon. Aroussen still being new to criterium racing in the US rode an Awesome race, maintained position well and rode very smooth, if you don't know Aroussen you will know him soon because he is on the brink of some good finishes, Jono was still finding his legs after his recent arrival from Australia, his fitness is good right now so I expect to see good things from our Aussie friend in coming weeks.

Visalia full results here

In all it was a great race weekend for the 4 of us. We all got to know each other a little better and had a safe weekend of racing. The muscle cramp I was feeling during the race turned out to be a strained/pulled muscle that took some time to heal. It feels better now, so the next race for me will be the Ronde van Brisbane races this weekend.

Thanks for reading,
James

Merco Weekend

The Elite Team was split in Cat 2 and P/1 fields. Aroussen and Rand raced the P/1 field for both the Crit and RR. There were seriously competitive fields for both races with lots of guys that had just done the Tour of California. Below are reports from both days action in the P/1 fields.

Also, James' report from the Cat 2 Crit is below. He nearly pulled off a win with an aggressive long sprint. Anyhow, he earned enough points to get his Cat 1 upgrade. Congratulations to James!

Official results here for both races:
Crit
Road Race

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Aroussen's Crit Report:
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MERCO Credit Union Cycling Dowtown Grand Prix

Rider: Aroussen Laflamme
Cat: P/1
Finishing Position: 27 Of 100+

Course: 0.8 mi per lap
Laps: 50
Total race distance: 40 miles

Weather: sunny, windy and temperature around 58
degrees
Webcor AV teamates: Rand Miller
Race start: 3:00 pm
Race statistics: 32 mpH

This week-end was a great experience for me as I've raced against a
lot of pros team like BMC, Rock Racing, Sutter Holmes, Colavita,
Kelly Benefits and so on. So a lot of really strong riders were there
to challenge my fitness and my soloist race tactics. So I didn't had
to much expectation, my goal for the GP being primarily to make it to
the end while keeping some energy for the Road Race the next day.

I had a good start position in the third row, the first ones being
reserved for the knowledgeable like Chris Horner and Scott Nydam… The
race was fast from the gun, with attacks after each corner, when it
was not for the hot laps. My goal was to remain in the mid-peloton,
which I did pretty well, being able to make my way near the front
when necessary.

During the third lap, I managed to stay on my bike while jumping the
curb over a two feet deep hole after I've tried to pass on the inside
right before a turn. Thanks to my mountain bike skills! Yeah, the
race was that fierce!!

A breakaway have flown away after the first half of the race, with 9
riders including Horner, Ben Jacques-Maynes and the winner to be,
Borrajo. They have even lap the peloton during the last lap for a
kind of bunch sprint, helped by their teams.

For us in the main group, the race was far from over, and a lot of
attacks were going on. Eight laps before the end, I've started to
make my way up to the front, while recovering for the final assault.
Then during the last lap, in the chicane who did put me in trouble
several time during the race, the guy in front of me have lost is
rear wheel, catching everyone from left to right, bringing them in
his crash. I think that Rand have been caught behind the crash, not
being able to participate in the final sprint.

I had to step on the break really hard to escape from the crash.
Unfortunately, this was not a good place, nor a good time to loose my
momentum. So I had to use all my remaining energy to chase the main
group through the 3 last corners of the race, leaving me with little
sprinting power and nobody to lead me out.

I'm happy with the final result; having been able to remain with the
main group which was my main goal for this day.

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Rand's Road Race Report:
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Race Report: Pro/1 Merco RR
By: Rand Miller
Date: 03/02/08
Distance: 120 miles
Weather: Perfect
Team: Myself, Aroussen, Ted

After racing Snelling the previous week, and having raced the windy
Merco Crit the previous day, I was prepared for the 120 mile Merco RR
to be an epic day in the gutter. However, it turned out to be quite
nice and calm, and the first two laps of the race were rather mellow.

By mellow, I mean that the pack stayed as a pack, but there were still
quite a few attacks (in which all three of us Webcor guys
participated) and the pace was rather high. Nothing stuck, and we
headed through the feed zone as a group at the start of the 3rd lap.
However, at one point or another, while everyone was eating, drinking,
and generally being merry, a group of around 20 riders managed to get
500m off the front of the main group. I have no idea when this group
rolled, but it was by no means a concerted attack.

Regardless, it turned out that a couple big teams had their men in the
break (CalGiant, Rock Racing, and Bissell were the main 3), and so
while the break dangled tauntingly close in front, these teams shut
down any attempts to bridge. At this point I think they must have
radioed to their guys to go, because the break kicked into gear and
was out of sight in a matter of minutes. While Ted, Aroussen and
myself all managed to miss this key break, so did Chris Horner and
Fred Rodriguez, among others--this was a bizarre split.

Heading into 2 laps to go, the break had a 6 minute lead and the pack
was effectively neutralized by the big teams. Lap 4 was marked by a
few attacks spurred on by boredom, but none had any real chance of
doing anything (besides making the Bissell guys grumpy, since they had
to chase them down).

With about 10 miles to go, people started attacking again, this time
pretty hard, and the group began to break up a bit. I tried my best,
as did Ted and Aroussen, to get into a move that would stick but we
had no such luck. Not wanting to risk my safety sprinting against
Rodriguez and Bahati for 25th place, I tagged along mid-pack to the
finish, as did Ted.

Overall, a good race for all three of us, as we were quite active in a
long, hard, big-time race and personally I feel that my fitness is
progressing well. However, the bottom line is that we missed the key
break. The worst part was the fact that it was so close, but we
couldnt get there. Bummer, but next time I will be more attentive.

Thanks to Aroussen's GF for excellent feeds all day long, and thanks
to Ted for showing up. Hopefully he continues to do so!

Rand

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James' Cat 2 Crit Report:
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Merco Credit Union Downtown Grand Prix
Men's Category 2
18 laps, 15 miles
Place: 3rd of 120
Teammates: Elliott Holland, Rob MacNeill, Brian Peterson

This is one of the rare weekends AV Elite team was split up due to the Pro/1 race and the Cat 2 race being run separately. The Merco Grand Prix is a fun course with some technical sections that set it apart from other criteriums. A chicane, lots of bot dots, sharp corners, windy conditions, and rough pavement in sections makes for some exciting racing. This was my first race on the new Williams System 58 carbon tubular wheels, they were rock solid on this technical course. Traditionally this race has a lot of crashes in the Cat 2 field, and this year was no different. The only thing I can come up with is being a full Cat 2 field you have 120 guys who think they can win all of a sudden. Add to this the mixing of Southern California and Northern California riders, a bunch of collegiate racers and you have an exciting race.

I arrived at the race later than I would have liked, only got about 15 minutes of warm up, talked quickly with Rob, Brian and Elliott. Rob and Brian had just finished the masters race so they weren't sure how they would fare in this race. Elliott and I talked tactics pre race. He suggested he give me a lead out, I disagreed and stated that since we haven't really ridden together much a better approach would be for him to be aggressive throughout the race and if it is coming down to a sprint finish to attack with 1 lap to go.

The race got underway and it was plenty fast. My only complaint is there was a lot of surging going on. I had to work extra hard to maintain position. I decided not go for any primes throughout the race. Elliott did a great job staying near the front of the race and chasing down attacks. I tried to get into a few breaks but the pack wasn't letting anything get away.

With three laps to go I found myself just behind Elliott, I told him to stick to the plan. He said a few words in response, not all of which I could understand, but I did hear the words lead out. I said again to stick to the plan. Anyways, in the middle of the 2nd to last lap Elliott was a few spots ahead of me and turned around to look for me, while doing so he veered into the rider next to him and they both went down. I was able to avoid the crash and settle back into position at about 10th wheel. Going into the last turn on the final lap the guys at the front sat up. I decided I didn't want to go into the last turn with a big swarm of cat 2's hungry for a win, so I attacked about 100m before the last turn. I came out of the last turn with a large gap on the field and continued to sprint into the headwind all the way to the line (a long ways). About 30m from the line I was still sprinting, I looked back between my legs and saw some shadows approaching. I tried to kick in the final boosters in the legs but nothing was left and I was caught by two guys right at the line.

I spoke with Elliott afterwards and he was pretty bummed, he said it was his first crash in 5 years. Minus a lot of road rash he was o.k. Elliott proved to be a very strong bike racer and I look forward to riding/racing with him more. I showed up for the podium presentation then made the long drive home.

The points for 3rd place gave me what I needed to upgrade to category 1. My upgrade was approved yesterday by USA Cycling, so no more Cat 2 only races for me.

A good photo of the finish taken by Jeff Williams
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ironcx/2303725052/in/datetaken/

And the podium presentation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ironcx/2303733354/in/datetaken/

Thanks for reading,

James

Snelling RR Report

The first team race of '08 is in the books. The conditions were brutal but it builds character, right? Our leader, James, flatted from the front group, unfortunately. New team mebers Aroussen Laflamme and Rand Miller hung tough to finish an epic edition of Snelling RR. Below is Aroussen's report.

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Snelling Road Race: Snelling, California
Rider: Aroussen Laflamme
Cat: P/1/2
Finishing Position: 15-30? Of 100+ (waiting for results)
Course: 11.7 mi per lap Laps: 6
Total race distance: 70+ miles
Weather: cloudy, windy from the SW (15mph+) and temperature around 55 degrees
Webcor AV teamates: James Badia, Matt Beebe, Chris Crawford, Dominic Giampaolo, Rob MacNeill, Rand Miller, Graham Simpson
Race start: 12:15pm
Race statistics: 39 km/H or around 24 mpH

First, I have to apologize for the quality of the English here; I' m a French Canadian.

I didn't warm up really well for this race as my short road race experience teaches me that a road race should start slowly. That would be the first mistake of the day. But let's begin with the race plan. We were about 8 Alto Velo riders ready to hit the road on this bicycle unfriendly day. Anyway, James has been elected as our captain. My role was to be the shadow of Eric Wohlberg. I didn't know exactly what it could represent exactly at this time but I was ready to work hard. James was our sprinter if ever we could make it to end. The team to beat was Giant Strawberry with their 13 guy squad.

The race starts with a neutral stretch of 3 miles that gives me the time to make my way up to the front, near my target. As soon as the motorcycle clears the way, the Giants started to accelerate hard but not hard enough for Wohlberg who attack soon in the race. I'm there, fighting to keep my place close to him, working to the front when needed. Quickly, half our way through the first lap, I'm in a big breakaway with a lot of Giant, and Wohlberg next to me. But before the end of the lap, the rhythm slows down and the peloton catch us. Fine, I'll get some rest, or maybe not. I have to stay alert, Wohlberg and the Giant have made an alliance and are ready to attack again. I'm still at the front, pushing hard, being push in every way, trying to stay in the right echelon as the wind makes a lot of victim. James, Rand are there, providing a bit of shelter for my sore legs.

But soon, we have a new breakaway, Rand is with us. But think are going fast, my head is going light and the gusty wind is still there, from the right. The breakaway takes the entire road, a lot of Giants are doing interference in the echelon, so it's really hard to step in. I finally succeed, but not for long, the wind or the flooding suddenly pushes the echelon to the left. For me, this mean that there's no more road for my wheels, so I have to jump in the loose sand, fighting to stay upright at 20 mpH+ until I see this big lake of muddy water. My worst fear is to take a dive into this freezing cold water, so I better hold on tight to the handlebar. SO I did, losing all my speed in the process and filling my brakes and wheels with a thick cover of mud. Not good I realized once back on the road, pedaling against this new resistance to catch the breakaway. The motorcycle is there, urging me to push harder, so I did. But soon I realize that alone as I am, this could be a long chase, especially with this wind. Pacing myself, I try to maintain the gap until a guy from Metromint comes by me. I stick to his rear wheel and start to work with him. This chase would last for almost a lap or 25 minutes, going from expectation to deception as we pass peloton of other categories and James on the side of the road with a flat tire (dropped out of front group). And then, the fatigue sets in and the chase group catches us. A new race starts for me because I feel that now we have a chance with this group. Unfortunately, after one or two good lap, we catch some Giant guys that start to interfere with our effort to bring back the breakaway that was about 3 minutes in front of us. Then the group begins to shrink as people drop, feeling that it's all over yet. During the last lap I try to accelerate the group by creating some gaps, but nobody seems to respond so I decide to lead the group for 5 miles until the faux-sprint takes off without me, nor Rand that we had caught on the way, not willing to risk a crash on this wet pavement. And a crash there is, right on the finish line. Rand did a great job in the breakaway, being drop only during the final lap or so.

The final result is that Wohlberg win the race and that my position is somewhere between 15 and 30. The result of this race could have been different without some errors from my part including being thrown into the gutter, but I've learned a lot in the process.

Thanks for reading

CalCup Round 6: University RR

Some of the hard-as-nails-climber-types from the team tackled the University Road Race this past Sunday. The course is relentlessly up and down and only the strongest survive. Below is Ted's report from the event.

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University RR
26 August 2007
Length: 20 laps
Place: 7th (Dominic and Christine finishing)
Teammates: Dominic Giampaolo, Greg Davis, and Christine Thorburn

First off, I made a poor decision letting my temper
get the best of me and for setting a poor example by
making a scene immediately after yesterday's race. I
broke the cardinal rule of "What happens in the race,
should stay in the race." Bike racing is half
psychological warfare, so if I let a rider get under
my skin, it's my own problem. It's better to let your
legs do the talking instead of your mouth (I used the
latter. A great example of what you should do is to
simply look at Karen Brems, who won her race against 3 or 4
TIBCO riders without any teammates. I'm fairly
certain she wasn't the strongest rider in her field
since there is no hiding at University. I never would
have expected her to pull out the win. But by never
showing a sign of weakness, she somehow pulled it off
yesterday. She has achieved "God-like" status in my
book.

Back to the report:
We had as good of a field as I've ever seen at this
race with solid riders from a variety of domestic pro
teams including Jittery Joe's (Neil Shirley, eventual
winner)Slipstream's(Webcor alum Lucas "bay face" Euser
and Steven Cozza-first race back- since his bad
accident), Navigators' (David Rodriguez), Rock
Racing's (Kevin Klein and Adam Switters), VMG's - Eric
Riggs, , and mtn bike hammer, Barry Wicks. Of course
we had the area's top local riders who like hilly
courses, including one up and comer who doesn't yet
know what he's good at(everything): "the real deal"
Jared of Metromint, who had just won San Ardo the day
before.

A former Webcor alum, Ben Haldeman, set the tone by
attacking right out of the gates putting everyone into
the pain cave. This was highly unnecessary as the
majority of Pro 1/2 riders do not warm up for races,
and seeing this rider on the side, back in street
clothes within the hour meant he clearly attacked for
effect.

The ensuing laps, were punctuated by a multitude of
attacks, with no one, unfortunately, able to stay off,
thus making the pace rather uncomfortable. Both
Christine and Dominic did a great job of maintaining
position near the front. However, the high pace took
its toll and our group whittled down to about a dozen.
On lap 10 or so, we voluntarily neutralized ourselves
when we caught the Master's 4/5 field finishing their
race.

On the following lap, after I then rolled off in my
'not particularly safe' aero tuck and was able to hold
a gap until the top of the climb. Unfortunately the
entire field bridged up rather than the couple of
riders I was hoping for. The counter to my move became
the break of the day as Steven Cozza of Slipstream
attacked from the base of the climb, with about 5 to
go. A flying Neil Shirley and Jesse Moore bridged
across shortly after, and it seemed clear that this
break had teeth.

By this time, we were down to about 7 or 8 riders left
in the chase group incl, and with no organized chase,
the gap grew. Wicks, Jared, BP, and Jonathan Eropkins
took some nice pulls, but the gap wasn't coming down
quickly.

With three to go, we catch Steven and Jesse but not
Neil, who had set off alone, and with two to go, Jared
rolls off on the descent, and nobody responded. He
put his head down and that was that. We're now racing
for
3rd. More attacks ensue on the last lap, and I end up
in the 2nd chase group behind Lucas, Adam Switters,
Jesse, with Neil and Jared up the road.

It's myself, Tyler (from Davis Bike Club), and Kevin
Klein arrears. With some hard efforts by Tyler and
myself, we get within 10 bike lengths of the chase
group at the bottom corner. We continue to push it
towards the line as Kevin jumps around us(he has
teammate Adam just ahead), latching onto the chase
group as they start their sprint. I roll
in 7th. Both Dominic (10 - 15ish?) and Christine
finished strongly as well.

Not a bad result. It would have been nice to have
Greg racing with us, but I found out later that he had
a major mechanical before the start of the race.

-Ted

CalCup Round 5: San Ardo RR

CalCup racing continues. This edition was a road race around San Ardo, a farming community down past King City. The Webcor/Alto Velo team put in a good team effort and ultimately put Big Tore in the break of the day, which barely stayed off to the finish. Below is Tore's report from the race.

==============================

Race: San Ardo RR - P/1/2 (08/25/07)
Course: 4 laps (84 mile) flat/rollers
Field: 50+
Team: Tore Nauta (6th), James Badia (10th-13th), Brad Goodson, Matt
Beebe, Rob MacNeill

Beside the usual strong guys from teams like BPG, CalGiant, Rock
Racing, some interesting riders from other teams showed up as well:
Slipstream, Navigators, BMC, Kodak, Jittery Joes. The plan was to keep
James, who has proven in Suisun to still have a deadly sprint at this
time of year, protected for the final part of the race. The others
would share the rest of the load during the race.

Very early in the first lap an Arete rider took off, soon to be joined
by a CalGiant. The pack didn't react and the pace dropped to an
unbearable low speed, giving the leaders a gap of more than 2 minutes.
Rob started riding tempo at the front, bringing the pace back to a
normal level. In the second lap things started to get a bit more
interesting. There were a lot of hard attacks from Lucas Euser
(Slipstream) in the hilly terrain. Brad and BB were covering and Brad
ended up in a break that lasted for a while. On the long stretch back
to the village, Jamiel Danesh (Kodak) stayed away for quite some time,
but eventually got back because of BPG, Metromint, Davis, and Rob
setting a decent pace.

Not completely clear about the exact moment, but around this time also
the Arete and CalGiant riders who had been off the front were back in
the pack. Going through the hills for the third time, there were
plenty of attacks. After the rollers, near the bridge, I got in a
break with David Rodriguez (Navigators), Mike Telega (CalGiant) and an
Arete rider. The latter had to give up after a couple of miles, but
the remaining three of us were working well together and things looked
pretty good until we were entering the fourth lap: something in
David's bike snapped - a broken spoke. He had to stop and Mike and I
continued but it soon became clear that we wouldn't be able to keep
the pace fast enough to stay away. At the start of the rollers, the
pack (or at least part of it) caught us.

At this same moment, Rob and BB got gapped of the back. Rob and BB
teamed up with Jamiel for a powerful TTT through the rollers, and
making it possible for Rob to rejoin the field near the bridge. During
this time there were a lot of attacks and at a certain point a couple
of guys were off the front without Webcor in it. We also missed the
next guy who jumped. That didn't look good and I jumped with the next
two guys who tried to bridge. We did some hard work and finally a
stable group of 7 was formed. This break was less organized compared
to the first one, because of its size and the differences in
capabilities. Joel Robertson (Kaiser Permanente) and Jonathan Eropkin
(CVC) were the big guys pulling very hard, which sometimes resulted in
some paceline gaps.

Anyway, approaching the San Ardo village we could see the pack getting
closer. Some guys got nervous and started doing more work. Webcor was
in a good postion, because Brad and James were still available for a
field sprint. On this last stretch, James was following attacks in the
pack, but unfortunately superman Jared Barrilleaux (Metromint) was
able to get away with one other rider and they bridged up to us in the
village. This made us a group of 9. That was with less than a mile to
go to the finish.

Crossing the bridge there were several unsuccessful attempts to get
away by Joel, Mike Telega (CalGiant), and Jared. I was in about third
wheel at the moment that we went under the overpass and Jared jumped
hard initiating the real sprint. Jared won the uphill sprint and I got
passed by a bit too many guys including Jonathan just on the finish
line. I was a bit disappointed by my sprinting capabilities, but it
felt good to be part of the right breaks.

At the end, the gap between the field and our group had diminished to
almost zero, and Brad and James were getting ready for the field
sprint. Crossing the bridge, Brad kept James out of the wind in 4th
position and dropped him off with about 100m before the turnoff to the
sprint. James finished 4th in the sprint.

Thanks to Amy for the feedzone support!

Tore

Suisun Harbor Criterium Men's Pro 1/2 WEBCOR/AV WINS!

Jamo scored his first P/1/2 victory this past weekend, and in a CalCup race no less! Below is his race report.

Race: Suisun Harbor Criterium Men's Pro 1/2
Aug. 19th, 2007
Teamates: Brad Goodson, Tore Nauta, Rob MacNeil
Placing 1st of 52

This was my first time racing the Suisun course and I definitely found it to my liking. A short, flat, four corner rectangular criterium in the downtown area of Suisun city. The race was 72 laps. This race is part of the Cal Cup Series put on by Velo Promo. Out of the 52 starters there was plenty of horsepower with people like Jared (Metromint), Eric Wohlberg, Kevin Klein (Rock Racing), Uthman Ray (BPG), JD Bergman (Squadra), Randd Miller (Club One), and many others.. After the Webcor/AV team missed out on top placings at Dunnigan Hills we were all hungry for a good result. With four of us there the plan was simple, share the load of covering attacks and if it comes down to a sprint someone on the team (other than me) will make sure it is strung out at the end.

The race remained fast from start to finish. For the first 20 laps I was near the front and chased down a number of attacks. Their were multiple attacks and breakaway attempts. After about 20 laps, Tore was showing himself near the front and covering multiple attacks. When he was finished Brad took his turn putting in some hard efforts. In one case a large gap opened and Brad did a good job keeping it from getting too big, allowing me to bridge across to the front group. This gap remained for about two laps only to be closed down. Rob found his legs about halfway through the race and started making his way up to the front and contributing to the coverage of breakaways.

With 20 laps to go a brekaway with Jared, Eric, a Davis rider and one other got a decent gap on the field. They stayed away for a while, Brad took some turns near the front to keep the breakaway in check. Finally, inside 4 laps to go Rob got on the front of our group and put in a Hercules type effort and pretty much single handedly brought the breakaway back with about 2 laps to go.

At this time I was sitting about 4th wheel, I maintained this position up to the point we heard the bell for the final lap. In turn one some rider attempted to come inside of me and take my line, I shut him down holding my position. In turn two whoever was on the front sat up and headed for the outside, the two guys in front of me followed. This is when I decided to jump, shooting the inside of turn two I was able to open a gap of about 30 meters in matter of seconds. I sprinted into the headwind on the back straigthaway and maintained the gap. I entered turn 3 at a high rate of speed and held a tight line through the corner. I came out of turn 4 with still about 40 meters gap, I put in another effort periodically looking back at the chasing pack. I held a sizeable gap all the way to the line and put up one arm to celebrate my win. I really wanted to post two arms in the air but my dizzy feeling prevented me from doing so.

Rob, Brad, and Tore all put in awesome work and we rode a very smart strong team race. I was happy to be able to deliver the favor back to the team by bringing home the first Pro 1/2 win for the Elite squad.

Thanks for reading,

James

Here is a link to a photo of the finish at Suisun.

http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?userid=khphotos&gallery_id=806326&image_id=2

CalCup Round 3: Dunnigan Hills RR Report

The Green Team hit up round 3 of the CalCup series on Saturday. Despite some really solid team racing, things didn't quite work to plan. They rarely do though and that's what makes racing exciting. Below is Dominic's report from the race.

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Dunnigan Hills, Pro/1/2
2 laps, 85 miles
August 18, 2007
Field: 60+
Teammates: me (12-15th or so), Rob MacNeil, Tore Natua, Matt Morenzoni, James Badia, Matt BeBe, Greg Davis and Brad Goodson

Dunnigan Hills is not my kind of course: mostly flat with some gentle rollers in the typically hot central valley. Yet I had a blast here last year and this year was pretty fun too (though it didn't work out for the team).

My job was to cover early attacks which I did. Of course you cover 3 or 4 of those in the space of 10 minutes and you start to get a little tired. Matt BeBe and Tore took over, then Rob, Matt M and I got back in the mix and we were on everything for the first 40 minutes. Then Matt BeBe got into a break that managed to get better separation and they hung out there for 20-25 minutes.

When that was brought back more counters ensued and this time Matt Morenzoni got into a break that even got out of sight on the twistier roads on the backside. They gained about 60-90 seconds and held out for about an hour. The semi-organized chase by CalGiant and Los Gatos brought it back on Road 99 as we headed back to start our second lap.

As expected, the story repeats itself here: more counter-attacks came with Tore, Brad, Matt, Rob and Greg doing a good job sticking on everything. I bided my time a bit knowing that once we got on to the backside of the course there was more of a chance that a break could stick and it would be important to have someone in it.

We neared the overpass of 505 and Vince from CVC attacked followed by an unattached rider and Greg Davis. They quickly got 20 seconds or so on the group. Michael Tymoff (Arete) started to roll off the front to bridge up to them so I hitched a free ride. Once Michael got us clear of the pack I worked with him to get up to Greg and company figuring Greg wouldn't mind some help and 2 AV out of 5 guys is good odds. The only flaw in the composition of the break was that we didn't have someone from CalGiant with us.

We quickly got together and started working to build our gap. After a short while Greg unfortunately started to suffer from cramps and the unattached rider (David) couldn't/wouldn't pull through. I offered water and food to Greg and he did drink some but it wasn't enough. Greg bravely soldiered on and did as much as he could until he popped. Now the odds were down to 1-in-4 but I figured I'd be able to beat at least one of them in a sprint, maybe two, so that's worth working for.

As we neared the point where the course crosses back over Hwy 5, the moto guy (Shawn Mehaffey) gave us some status: we had 40 seconds to a group of 15 and over a minute to the main pack. Then it went up to a minute to the pack of 15 but I knew we needed at least 2 minutes by the time we hit Road 99 to stay away so we probably were going to get caught.

Once on road 99 the group of 15 could see us and the gap quickly came down. We eased up knowing that we'd get caught and would have to react to counter-attacks. I just hoped that someone from AV was in that group of 15 so I could help them out at the end. Unfortunately Brad, Tore and James missed that split and so now I had rather unfavorable odds: me against 18 guys. Definitely not good. On the positive side I didn't have to do any work since it would be better if we got caught so I could work for James.

The pace stayed reasonably brisk with a few attacks here and there but it all was together with about 2 miles to go. We still had 30 seconds on the main pack so it was a sure bet we'd stay away. Now I was in a bit of a quandry. Sprinting against that many guys was probably not a good idea so I would have to attack. We passed the 1k to go sign and I was 3rd wheel or so. I jumped and went as hard as I could, getting Michael Tymoff for company. We took the right turn and I took a quick glance over my shoulder. The group was single file and in hot pursuit. I started up the overpass and made it about half-way before the group caught and passed me. I had one bullet and I had just spent it. I dug deep to hang on but there was no way. I rolled in just off the back of the group for whatever minor placing that left me with.

Although the result wasn't great, I did have a lot of fun in the race. I like being active, covering moves, getting in breaks that stick for more than 5 minutes and racing with good teammates. There were two mistakes we made that cost us a better finish. The first was that no one from the team was in that chase group of 15. Had someone else been in the group I could have worked for them to help setup the sprint. The second was that I took the gamble of playing Fabian Cancellara instead of sitting in until the last 200 meters. While I'm not a sprinter by any means, at the end of 85 miles most guys are pretty tired and I could have beaten a few of them which would have been better than what I did get.

--dominic